About Us

Meet Valerie

I am a stay-at-home mommy to three amazing kids.  {R}, my oldest and my only daughter is 7.  She has been my little student since she was 2, letting me use my special skill set to teach her about colors, and numbers, and reading.  {K}, my middle child and oldest son is 5.  He loves learning and listens so intently to everything.  Then he makes connections with what he learned in his everyday life.  I am amazed that he is able to do that!  Sometimes I even struggle with that.  {G}, my youngest son and baby is 2 and full of energy.  I'm excited to help him on his education journey.  My life is full of fun and excitement.  I love being able to stay home and help my children learn and grow.  Before I was blessed with my family, I taught 1st and 2nd grade for 3.5 years in Utah.  I LOVED teaching and helping children to realize their potential and learn new things.  I received my degree from Weber State University in Elementary Education with an emphasis in Reading.  While teaching I also earned endorsements in Math, ESL (English as Second Language), and Technology.

I wanted to start this blog long ago, when my oldest was a babe in arms.  I was so glad to be able to stay at home with her, yet I knew I would miss the atmosphere of helping children, and their parents, to learn and experience new things.  While teaching, many parents would approach me as their child's teacher to get ideas for enrichment at home.  I had a website with activities for them to build and extend homework to further their child's learning and understanding of certain subjects in school.  I hope this website will work as a general example of things you can do as a parent to help your children with homework and during those summer months when we know retention is key.

My sister, Natalie, is also an amazing teacher that has only recently decided to be at home for a while.  I am beyond blessed that she has agreed to come along with me on this blog.  We can cover so much more area with two of us.  I'm sure my mom never dreamed she would have two teachers in the family.  :)  We are lucky to have each other.

This is not to say that this blog will only contain teaching material.  My sister and I hope to include party planning, recipes, and anecdotes from our daily lives.  We are so excited to share with each other and with you on our journeys.


Meet Natalie

Hello!  I am a recently "retired" 4th grade teacher.  Mr. Hardman and I moved to central Utah for his new job so I needed to leave mine.  Just before we moved, we found out that I am pregnant!  So I'm literally going from a teacher to a mommy.  We've decided that while Mr. Hardman works that I will stay at home with our sweet babes.  This means I won't be back in the classroom for a while; however, I'm glad that I will have the opportunity soon to be a 24 hour teacher.

I graduated from Weber State University in Elementary Education with emphases in Spanish and ESL (English as a Second Language).  I taught 4th grade for 2 years in northern Utah.  I have never loved doing anything more than teaching 9-10 year olds what they were capable of accomplishing and then seeing them do it.  My philosophy of teaching is simple:  all children can and will learn if given the appropriate tools, encouragement, and authenticty of tasks.

I was ecstatic when Valerie asked if I was interested in joining her here to give parents, teachers, and others ideas and help for their students.  I was starting to get anxious about what I would do with myself at the end of August and I wasn't greeting 25 or so nervous and wonderful students on the first day of school.  I hope that the knowledge I've gained in the past 6 years of absorbing and practicing different teaching methods, ideas, and habits will be able to help the novice and veteran teachers and/or parents.

I have always had the desire to teach and learn, and although my roles and titles may change that desire never will.  If you have that same desire, then you are in the right place.